Jorge...you're a producer of IP on the net....you're in the minority....most people on the net are happily [or ignorantly] IP abusers...

Sorry, but no one has the right to provide copyrighted material without the permission of the owner, period. Not in an way, shape or form! Some people make a living on their hard work, what gives anyone the right to distribute that work without the permission of the owner? I hope they take down MegaUpload and every site like it around the world. Sites owners are solely responsible for the content on their site, and if they cannot control it, they do not deserve to exist. Oh, and as far as Anonymous and other low life, scum of the Earth hacker organizations like them.....

It's reasonable usage so you don't have to pay ...

In most cases they do, otherwise they wouldn't put the hard work in. It still no justification for someone who has put no work in to have it for free or to make money (like MegaUpload) out of it.

Copyright is important, otherwise people like myself wouldn't make anything.

IP can be taken to the extreme ... Apple comes to mind.

You cannot push the blame on the hack-group.And call them Scum... H- groups can be compared with Protestants, because now-a-days only masses of people will move things forward.
“We The People” that has almost no meaning anymore for the most people…

It lost its energy. People are afraid of almost everything these days...And to have a virtual Protest with a early forward warning demanding a change isn’t anything else than going to protest against something in Real Life with a group of people the only difference is that it happens on a virtual platform.
A hacker group warns exactly as peacefully Protestants do-+ a hack does not constitute a violation in RL! Also it does not kill people! It only hurts the imaginary digital barrier and the Pyramid-system behind it.
The whole thing is called gray zone left open by the founders…
I know im not making friends with this post but its my personal feeling about it.

My major problem with SOPA is that it throws out the baby with the bath water.

Innocent users are de facto included when a site like this is taken down and can lose their content.

Any site storing users content should be forced to copy the content and return it to the users if it is taken down.

Also, a way to take down sites should be created which will not destabilize DNS.

Well, granted that would be nice anyway.  They'd have to make that a law to force compliance, I'd think.  Obviously, even that would be a huge mess. 

re: youtube - I'm curious as to how long it would be able to avoid something like SOPA.  I'm certain there are thousands of copyrighted content that is being displayed there.  In the past, they've gotten around things like that by removing content on request - I'm under the impression they don't do any sort of policing of their own sight.  There would definitely be a huge public outcry if they were shut down.  No policing in the first place is just silly, though.  Obviously, it wouldn't be easy to police, but a mechanism for keeping copyrighted content from being uploaded in the first place would be better... sigh.

Agreed!

Sometimes I visit paranoid news websites when I'm afraid I might be getting that way myself, so that I can convince myself to come back more to the mainstream by seeing how goofy the really paranoid people are.  I found this guys' video, and dang if he doesn't make an interesting point, in that the power players behind the passage of these laws, or the introduction of them as bills...they're the originators of the software used to pirate things off the internet.  Someone please point out to me the flaw in this guy's logic, because I can't come up with anything:

@Karen:

1. Use Doc's Razor: Don't ascribe to conspiracy what can be ascribed to the desire to sell tin foil. (this is a quotable).

2. "Post hoc ergo proctor hoc" (or A is antecedent to B therefore if B then A, and A caused B) is not correct logic. In this case, nut bag asserts that since these companies distributed software which could be used for piracy, that was their intent.

Since that is illogical, there must be a fact to explain it (the 'conspiracy'): To wit, the takeover of the internet.

The fallacy is illustrated by this:

Cars can be used to kill people. Therefore, the auto makers are conspiring to take over vehicle licensing and own all the roads.

The former example is wrong because the software was intended to distribute legal, licensed content not pirated software. Just like cars are intended to be driven safely, within the law: Not to kill people and take over licensing and all roads.

This nut job wants to kill SOPA. Maybe with good reason, maybe not. Doing it because of his "reasoning" would be incorrect, and crazy.

Thank you...I can go back to my work now.

You have GOT TO BE kidding.

Come on, lad....you're dripping all over the floor coming down the last shower like that....

I buy my FSX addon planes ....then go looking for 'skins' ....repaints uploaded by others....you do the 'search' and you get the hits....and Megaupload and Rapidshare will be there....along with the planes themselves you just bought....

And as for this 'Anonymous' SCUM...yes....SCUM ... were they doing something ever-so-noble and for the-greater-good they wouldn't be bloody ANONYMOUS now, would they?

And that's rhetorical....it answered itself.

Since that was rather buried in your post I thought I'd pull it out for emphasis.  You are exactly correct, that happens all the time.  It seems to me that this type of legislation would be a prime candidate for that treatment too - primarily a corporate interest.  We do need to watch for it.